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Re: Not going to panic, but something I don't understand

Long 11 game road trip against some great pitching. First offensive slump of the season. Not going to get too worked up about it. Though they probably could use more pop from the left side.

Don't know that they need more pop, but they are certainly headed into the 2nd half with 3 ?'s in the outfield and two aging guys on the left side. Bruce is probably counted on to do more than he's grown into right now, Stubbs will take awhile to adjust in the ML's if he ever does, and Gomes just came off a career's worth of stats in about a month and a half. Not sure you can count on another run like that. Rolen and Cabrera look flat gassed (as does Phillips whose younger). I would certainly explore the possibility of a LF or SS and hope you can get enough from everyone else. In fact, this offense looks flat putrid when it doesn't go yard same an inning here and there.

Re: Not going to panic, but something I don't understand

Originally Posted by Falls City Beer

Some brutal pitching in at least 3 of those 4 games. At least they're not getting shut out by Jeff Karstens.

Other teams have to face those pitchers too. There's no excuse for getting shutout by Ryan Rowland-Smith, and though Cole Hamels is a good pitcher, he entered today having allowed 19 HR in a little over 100 IP.

Re: Not going to panic, but something I don't understand

Originally Posted by alloverjr

Don't know that they need more pop, but they are certainly headed into the 2nd half with 3 ?'s in the outfield and two aging guys on the left side. Bruce is probably counted on to do more than he's grown into right now, Stubbs will take awhile to adjust in the ML's if he ever does, and Gomes just came off a career's worth of stats in about a month and a half. Not sure you can count on another run like that. Rolen and Cabrera look flat gassed (as does Phillips whose younger). I would certainly explore the possibility of a LF or SS and hope you can get enough from everyone else. In fact, this offense looks flat putrid when it doesn't go yard same an inning here and there.

So in other words, the offense is tired after a brutal road trip wherein they faced Santana, Hamels, Halladay, Lilly, Dempster. It happens.

Re: Not going to panic, but something I don't understand

I'll say this, that was the weirdest 4 game series I can ever remember. It feels like it lasted 2 weeks. Every game had incredibly odd circumstances. I come away feeling like we were very evenly matched from top to bottom with the Phils. Not that it's good enough.

Re: Not going to panic, but something I don't understand

Marty has a point in that they need to seriously think about Bruce as a platoon player.

There are other issues or improvements they could make to the lineup and/or bench, but Phillips and Gomes are struggling right now, as is Rolen, and without those guys hitting, combined with Bruce doing nothing at all offensively, it's a recipe for a .500 team or worse.

Better hope they learn how to handle tough lefties better and top of the rotation pitchers at some point.

3 shutouts in a week is really, really ugly. Its tough watching all of this starting pitching going to waste.

Re: Not going to panic, but something I don't understand

Originally Posted by CrackerJack

Marty has a point in that they need to seriously think about Bruce as a platoon player.

There are other issues or improvements they could make to the lineup and/or bench, but Phillips and Gomes are struggling right now, as is Rolen, and without those guys hitting, combined with Bruce doing nothing at all offensively, it's a recipe for a .500 team or worse.Better hope they learn how to handle tough lefties better and top of the rotation pitchers at some point.

3 shutouts in a week is really, really ugly. Its tough watching all of this starting pitching going to waste.

Re: Not going to panic, but something I don't understand

Originally Posted by CrackerJack

The problem is, at this rate, they'll be much further down the list than 2nd.

At what rate?

If they want Bruce to become a great hitter, they'll let him hit against lefties. It's a problem right now, no doubt, and Bruce may never develop the ability to hit lefties or he might not figure it out till he's expensive or FA (at which point we may have missed out on an opportunity to trade for someone who could be more productive in his cheap years). Kind of a bind, but I'd still start him in RF. He is still only 23 (though the clock is ticking cost/contract-wise).

I'd have no problem adding a big bat to the lineup, but I think that would be kind of a weird use of resources.

Re: Not going to panic, but something I don't understand

I want the Reds to acquire another starting pitcher (Haren/Oswalt/Nolasco) and some bullpen help, but ... since April 25th, the Reds pitching staff is allowing 3.89 runs per game. Again, I think the Reds need to acquire a hammer at the top of the rotation but the pitching hasn't been the problem lately.

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